Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.- Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ? Tendering the precious fafety of my prince, Come I appellant to this princely presence.- And wish, (so please my sovereign,) ere I move, What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn2 sword may prove. Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal: 'Tis not the trial of a woman's war, The bitter clamour of two eager tongues, Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain: First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me And let him be no kinsman to my liege, I do defy him, and I spit at him ; Call him-a slanderous coward, and a villain : [2] Drawn in a right or just cause. JOHNS. JOHNS. By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie. And lay aside my high blood's royalty, Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except : Or chivalrous design of knightly trial: And, when I mount, alive may I not light, If I be traitor, or unjustly fight! K.Rich. What doth our cousin lay toMowbray's charge? It must be great, that can inherit us So much as of a thought of ill in him. Boling. Look, what I speak my life shall prove it true; That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles, Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring. Further I say,-and further will maintain Upon his bad life, to make all this good, That he did plot the duke of Gloster's death; And, consequently, like a traitor coward, Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood: [4] Lewd here signifies wicked. It is so used in many of our old sta* tutes. MAL.-It sometimes signifies idle. STEEV. K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars !— Thomas of Norfolk, what say't thou to this? Nor. O, let my sovereign turn away his face, And bid his ears a little while be deaf, Till I have told this slander of his blood, " 5 How God, and good men, hate so foul a liar. K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes, and ears: Nor. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart, Upon remainder of a dear account, Since last I went to France to fetch his queen : Now swallow down that lie.- -For Gloster's death, I slew him not; but to my own disgrace, Neglected my sworn duty in that case. Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom : [5 i. e. this reproach to his ancestry. The reverence due to my sceptre STEEV. JOHNS. Your highness to assign our trial day. K. Rich. Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be rul'd by me ; Let's purge this choler without letting blood: This we prescribe though no physician; Deep malice makes too deep incision: Forget, forgive; conclude, and be agreed; Our doctors say, this is no time to bleed.Good uncle, let this end where it begun : We'll calm the duke of Norfolk, you your son. Gaunt. To be a make-peace shall become my age :Throw down, my son, the duke of Norfolk's gage. K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his. Gaunt. When, Harry?" when? Obedience bids, I should not bid again. K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down; we bid; there is no boot. 8 Nor. Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot: My life thou shalt command, but not my shame : The one my duty owes; but my fair name, (Despite of death, that lives upon my grave,)9 To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have. I am disgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled here: Pierc'd to the soul with slander's venom'd spear; The which no balm can cure, but his heart-blood Which breath'd this poison. K. Rich. Rage must be withstood : Give me his gage :-Lions make leopards tame. Nor. Yea, but not change their spots : take but my shame, And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord, The purest treasure mortal times afford, Mine honour is my life; both grow in one; K.Rich. Cousin, throw down your gage; do you begin. [7] This obsolete exclamation of impatience is likewise found in Heywood's Silver Age, 16:3. STEEV. [8] That is, no advantage, no use in delay or refusal, JOHNS. [9] That is, my name that lives on my grave in despite of death. JOHN. Boling. O, God defend my soul from such foul sin! Shall I seem crest-fallen in my father's sight? Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height Before this outdar'd dastard? Ere my tongue Shall wound mine bonour with such feeble wrong, Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear The slavish motive of recanting fear; And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace, Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face. SCENE II. [Exeunt. The same. A Room in the Duke of LANCASTER's PalEnter GAUNT, and Duchess of GLOSTER.2 ace. Gaunt. Alas! the part I had in Gloster's blood 3 To stir against the butchers of his life. Duch. Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur? Or seven fair branches springing from one root: [1] To design in our author's time signified to mark out. MAL. [2] The Duchess of Gloster was Eleanor Bohun, widow of Duke Thomas, son of Edward III. WALPOLE. [3] That is, my relation of consanguinity to Gloster. HANM. |